


This Is Halloween

by Stratagem



Series: Stand By You Forever - Future Plance Family AU [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff, Gen, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Pumpkin carving, far future plance family, pumpkin patch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-09 07:16:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12271557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stratagem/pseuds/Stratagem
Summary: Lance loves Halloween because it's spooky fun and an excuse to eat all the candy. Pidge loves it because it's a golden opportunity to watch all the horror movies and steal the candy from Lance. Their kids tend to love Halloween too.Short stories based on a far future Plance family enjoying Halloween.





	1. It's the Great Pumpkin

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!
> 
> A/N: The Plance Family needed to go to the pumpkin patch. Plance kid ages are as follows: Kai (8), Garett (7), Ferro (7), and Lis (5). Ferro is an adopted alien, and they love him very much.

"You know I can make as many pumpkin holograms as you want."

"It's not the same, babe."

"Right, it's safer."

The pumpkin patch sign loomed over Pidge, the crooked lettering an obvious foreshadowing of bad things to come. They were back on Earth for the weekend to visit with her parents and do normal Halloween things like an average family. Not a universe-protecting one. On New Altea, Halloween existed, but it wasn't nearly as big a deal as it was on Earth. Since she and Lance both loved Halloween and thought it was important that the kids experienced Earth traditions, they always dragged their family home for the holiday, even though it meant pulling the kids out of school for a few days.

However, while Pidge liked pumpkin carving, something had gone wrong every single time they tried to do it with the kids. Back when it had just been her and Lance, pre-kids, they had made the most spectacular Jack-o-Lanterns ever, but everything had changed when Kai had been born. It was like his birth had brought a pumpkin-carving curse upon them.

She stuffed her hands into her hoodie pocket and glanced over at where the kids were playing on a pile of hay bales. Ferro launched himself to the top of the bales and reached down to pull Lis up with him while Garett struggled to climb after them. Kai was watching all of them, playing the part of the dutiful older brother even though it looked like he wanted to somehow sabotage Garett, judging by the mischievous glint in his dark blue eyes.

Lance looped his arms around Pidge, leaning down to rest his chin on the top of her head. "You're being paranoid. Cease and desist. It's gonna be fine."

"You said basically the same thing last year, and we wound up in the hospital because Garett accidentally tripped and stabbed you."

Lance's weight dropped further onto her, and she had to brace herself as he used her as a leaning post. "That was an accident, like you said."

"And the year before that, Kai almost caught himself on fire—"

"Which is why he's on a permanent firestarter ban. Once we have enough kids to form Voltron, Kai's definitely not going to be the red one."

"Don't get started on that again," Pidge said, rolling her eyes. Lance had been making comments about increasing their family by one ever since he realized they almost had a complete Voltron starter pack.

"You know you want one more," he said, his hand sliding to rest over her stomach, " _Katie_ …"

Oh, crap, nope. Whenever he said her name like that, soft and low and accented, she couldn't decide whether to punch him or make out immediately. And since they were standing in front of a pumpkin patch with a bunch of other families, she settled for jabbing him in the side. "Not now."

Lance whined and pulled back, grumbling about mistreatment. "Harsh."

"We need to focus," Pidge said, putting her hands on her hips. She looked over at her self-made horde again and waved at Kai. "Wrap it up, let's go!"

"Come on, almost-Voltron!" Lance said, smirking at Pidge and ducking out on the way as she tried to swat at him, "Daylight's wasting and pumpkins need to be picked."

The kids made their way over, Garett leading the pack as Kai and Ferro helped Lis down from the hay bales. Garett collided with Pidge's side and hugged her, which meant he wanted something. Garett just wasn't as cuddly as the other three, which was sort of ironic seeing how the guy he was named for was super affectionate. Honestly, Garett's personality was more like Keith's than Hunk's.

"They have puppies here."

"Really? Isn't that nice," Pidge said, going to mom route and feigning ignorance, "Maybe they'll let you play with them if you ask politely."

"Can we have one?" Garett said, "Please?"

"No way," Lance said, "If I can't have a fifth kid, you can't have a puppy."

Pidge made a face. "Those are two extremely different things, Lance!"

"So does that mean I get a puppy?" Garett asked.

"No, no puppies and no babies," Pidge said, shaking her head at both of them. As if they weren't busy enough. Luckily their fellow paladins didn't mind helping out with the kids sometimes, and all of them were willing to babysit. It made things easier with all of that built-in support, but still, another kid and a puppy? Not now. Besides, Garett would doubtlessly find something else to adopt, something she and Lance wouldn't be able to say no to. This was just a temporary fix.

The other three wandered over, smiles on their faces and hay in their hair. Or all over them in Ferro's case, thanks to all of that fur. Lance leaned over and plucked some hay from Ferro's head. "Wow, kiddo, are you going for the scarecrow look?"

Ferro brushed at the hay and shook his head. "It's itchy."

"We'll get it all off, but you're going to have to take a bath when we get home."

"Aw…"

Lis wrapped an arm around Lance's leg, her curly brown hair sporting almost the same amount of hay as Ferro's fur. "Daddy, I want a little pumpkin. Like this." With one hand still holding onto his jeans, she put her other hand close to the ground. "I wanna name it Uncle Coran."

"Okay, but why?" Lance asked, trying not to grin.

Lis smiled. "Because it's orange."

"Oh…Oh!"

Both Lance and Pidge laughed, imagining that the Altean would probably be proud of his little namesake once he found out. They were going to have to send him a video of the pumpkin, especially since they were now going to have to carve a mustache into it. There was no other option. He would see it on Halloween anyways since all of team Voltron was supposed to be coming to Earth for the day, but still, he would appreciate the video.

"We should go pick out pumpkins before all of the good ones are taken," Kai said. He looked at Ferro and Garett, and the three of them nodded at each other before taking off through the entrance at a run.

"Hey, slow down!" Lance yelled after them. They obeyed but kept moving forward in exaggerated slow-mo, the younger two copying Kai. Lance scooped up Lis and settled her onto his hip before taking Pidge's hand. "Come on, babe. Let's go break this pumpkin curse."

"Why did you have to mention it? I finally stopped thinking about it—"

Lance tugged her hand, dragging her into the pumpkin patch. "What could go wrong?"

Pidge groaned. "Really? Did you really just say that…"

Yep, they were doomed.

 


	2. Coran Coran the Pumpkin Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This family really is cursed when it comes to pumpkin-carving. Just saying, maybe Lance and Pidge should try getting them to use paints next year. Also, dad!Lance has scruff, it is law.

"Don't touch anything."

Pidge stood at the end of the table, her arms crossed over her chest as she surveyed her four little monsters and her over-eager husband. Kai had one hand over a carving tool, his fingers twitching toward the cheap plastic saw. Across from him, Garett was busy petting Mulligan and his grandparents' dog Archimedes, so he hadn't touched any of the supplies yet.

Ferro was perched crosslegged on top of the table, his pumpkin resting on his legs, but he did put down the spoon he had been drumming on the table with. In Lance's lap, Lis was making content little humming noises, dark brown eyes trained on "Uncle Coran," the small pumpkin she had picked out.

Lance gave Pidge a long-suffering look. "Babe…" Obviously he was ready to start carving pumpkins.

"Before anyone slices themselves or someone else up slasher style, we're going to go over the rules," Pidge said, her tone unyielding. "One, no one besides me or Dad touch the actual knives. Two, all of the tools stay at the table. Three, share. Four, no one uses the firestarter except for me."

Lance raised his hand. "Dad formally objects to rule four and motions to amend it to 'me and Dad'."

Pidge flicked her eyes toward Lance and then looked at the kids. "Does anyone second that motion?"

"Nope," Kai said, smirking.

"Sorry, Dad, you're not good with fire," Garett said, "Remember the campfire last year? And the tent?"

"Ditto that," Ferro said. Garett absently held up a hand, and Ferro high-fived him automatically.

"Poor Mr. Tent," Lis said, shaking her head. At the end of the table, Pidge had on an expression that was identical to Kai's little smirk.

"You get no say, you almost set yourself on fire," Lance said, pointing a finger at his eldest before turning to the middle two, "And you guys know that was an accident. A one time event."

Garett shrugged. "So was Kai almost catching on fire, and you guys don't ever let him touch matches or firestarters or anything. Not even steel wool and batteries."

"Which is the best way to make a fire ever," Kai said, making a face.

"You never should have showed him that," Lance said, looking over at Pidge.

She grinned. "It was educational." Besides, how cool was it that steel wool and a 9V battery made fire? It looked awesome, too.

"In any case, I'm an adult, and I get fire privileges," Lance said, shaking his head at Pidge, "I know where the matches are."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Katie, what did you do with the matches?"

Pidge gave an evil grin, getting a glare from Lance.

"Could we get Uncle Keith to use Red's fire beam?" Ferro said, his eyes lighting up.

"Only if you want every single pumpkin and the house scorched to a crisp. Which your grandparents would love." Lance waved a hand at Pidge's parents' house, where they were staying for the week. Sam and Colleen were currently at work, so that meant Lance and Pidge and the kiddos had the place to themselves for the afternoon. "And Keith's back on New Altea anyways."

"He could wormhole here," Ferro said.

"I don't want Uncle Keith to burn up Uncle Coran," Lis said, her lower lip poking out. She reached out for her pumpkin and tried to pull it closer.

Lance laughed and kissed the top of her head. "No one's burning up any pumpkins. Coran Coran the Pumpkin Man is going to be just fine."

"All right, does everyone remember the rules?" Pidge raised an eyebrow, waiting for any more objections or comments. When no one said anything and Lance gave her the thumbs up, she activated her bayard from its civilian carry position, turning it into a laser-knife. "Hand me that pumpkin, Ferro."

"That's cheating," Lance said as he picked up a regular knife. Technically, he could turn his own bayard into a sword, but that would be less efficient than a knife. Pidge had always been able to turn her bayard into smaller weapons. Lance slid Lis' pumpkin closer and started cutting around the stem at the top.

"You're just jealous that you don't have a mini-lightsaber," Pidge said, bringing up an old teasing point. When Pidge had first formed the laser-knife back when they were younger, Lance had practically thrown a fit he was so jealous of it. At least until Shiro learned to form a full-fledged lightsaber type sword, and then all of Lance's jealously had gone toward that. Eventually Lance had learned to form a sword instead of a long-range weapon, but it had wound up being a very pirate-y scimitar.

"No, I just preferring doing things the traditional way."

Pidge snorted. "Since when?"

"Since today."

"Can I put on the Halloween playlist?" Kai asked, holding up Pidge's cell, "For mood?"

"Sure," Pidge said, "Go for it."

The Ghostbusters theme song started playing a minute later, and everyone started singing along except for Ferro, who instead played along with a pair of spoons. Pidge and Lance cut holes in the tops of all of the pumpkins and the kids scooped out the guts, creating a pile on the table. Kai and Garett started tracing patterns on their pumpkins, Kai intending to create a pumpkin zombie while Garett was going for a T-Rex. Between the two of them was a stack of little saws and punching tools and a bunch of things that Pidge was certain were going to cause damage. She kept close to the two of them, expecting some kind of medical emergency to go down.

Lance helped Lis draw Coran's signature mustache on her pumpkin and let her color it in so she felt like she got to do something. She was too young to use most of the carving tools. Pidge worked on her own pumpkin, turning it into a Death Star, while Lance kept trying to decide exactly what he wanted. Ferro was simply punching holes in his pumpkin with a metal skewer, and Lance was trying to keep a close eye on him while still managing his youngest.

"This is coming out lopsided," Kai said, frowning at his pumpkin. He set down the ruler he had been using to measure things and pressed a thumb into the pumpkin.

"It's a zombie, shortstuff," Lance said, "It's supposed to be lopsided. Maybe his eye is melting down his face."

"But this would be his eye socket, not his eye," Kai said, "So that's doesn't work."

"I think it looks okay," Ferro said.

"It's…nope. I need a new pumpkin," Kai said, eyeing Lance's untouched pumpkin.

Lance grabbed his pumpkin. "You have one already. It looks good like that!"

"It's not going to be perfect," Pidge said, "It doesn't need to be." She reached over like she was going to ruffle Kai's hair, and he dodged her gooey pumpkin-covered hand.

"Mom!"

"C'mere, my pumpkin child," she said, "You'll smell like Halloween!"

"Mom! No!" Kai took off and Pidge raced after him, hand outstretched. Lance smiled and went back to work on Lis' pumpkin, carefully carving out Coran Coran the Pumpkin Man's mustache. He didn't notice when it got quiet, the chatter of the kids petering out.

There was a little tug on his shirt sleeve. "Daddy."

"Yeah, baby?" he asked, not looking up.

"Daddy, Ferro's stuck."

"Huh?" That made Lance lift his head and let out a cry. "Ferro!"

"It's not my fault," Garett said, holding up his hands and backing away from the table.

His sweet son had a pumpkin for a head. Ferro had taken his pumpkin and somehow managed to stuff his head into the hole in the top of it. So now he had a Jack-O'Lantern face and looked like something out of a campy Halloween movie.

"Dad!" Ferro's voice was muffled by the pumpkin, but at least it had all those little holes in it. He wasn't going to suffocate. "I can't—it won't come off!"

"Crap, crap, crap," Lance said, reaching out and grabbing the pumpkin.

"I didn't do it!" Garett exclaimed.

"You dared me," Ferro said pitifully.

"Don't you dare go anywhere, Garett," Lance said, shooting him a fierce dad-frown. "Sit." He looked around the yard, realizing that Pidge had disappeared, probably chasing Kai to the front yard. Okay, so, he had a couple minutes to get this off before she came back and was vindicated in her worries. "Ferro, you're going to be okay." He pulled on the pumpkin and Ferro squirmed, grabbing it and yanking it back down.

"You're hurting my ears, that hurts." His little claws dug into the pumpkin and his tail puffed up.

"Oh boy…" Lance leaned back and looked at the pumpkin, considering his options.

"Want me to get Mom?" Garett asked.

"No!" Lance said, jerking his hand to the side like he was cutting that suggestion in half, "I said don't move."

"I don't like it," Lis said, tilting her head to the side as she looked at her brother.

"Me neither," Lance said, "Ferro, tiger, can you squish your ears?"

"Not the bottom," he said, "It's squishing them."

"I can't believe you put this on your head—"

"Ferro!" Pidge's voice cut across the yard as she and Kai came back through the gate, Kai's hair slicked back with pumpkin goo since she had tagged him. Her light brown eyes widened and her nostrils flared as her hands balled into fists. "Lance!"

"We're going to fix this, babe," he said.

"I told you this would happen! I told you, and you didn't believe me, and then you said, 'what could go wrong' because you just had to jinx it!" Pidge stomped over, Kai trailing behind her with a suppressed amused look on his face.

"Well, no one could have foreseen this one," Lance said, rubbing his chin, getting pumpkin goo in his scruff. "Just come help me get it off him before he turns into the Pumpkin King."

"What? What's a Pumpkin King?" Ferro asked.

"Right now, it's you," Kai said, laughter in his voice. He sat down beside Lis and pulled her into his lap. "How come we have a pumpkin curse?"

"I don't know, just lucky I guess," Pidge said, growling as she inspected the pumpkin on Ferro's head. "I think we're going to need some lard. Or butter. Something so this will slide off easier."

"I'll get it," Garett said, sliding off the bench.

"No, no, you won't," Lance said, shaking his head, "I'll get it. You sit there and stew in guilt for a little bit since you were part of getting your brother into this mess."

"What did you do?" Pidge asked, narrowing her eyes at Garett.

While Garett explained about daring Ferro to put the pumpkin on his head, it came out that Ferro had dared Garett to eat a handful of pumpkin guts. Great, family dare fest. Hopefully it wouldn't make him sick. After Ferro had been buttered up, the pumpkin popped rather easily. Pidge gently rubbed his ears and comforted him as he curled up in her lap and glared at Garett.

"Every. Time." Pidge narrowed her eyes at Lance. "Every. Single. Year."

"I know, honey," he said, "Next year maybe we'll do the holo-pumpkins."

No, they wouldn't. Life was an adventure, and so was having a pumpkin-carving curse.


End file.
